A woman searches for a pressure cooker to make meals for her family, her husband looks for a back pack. The Feds show up at their house wondering why. Don't worry, the Feds only do this about a 100 times a week (for the whole country or just this city is not known).

http://news.yahoo.com/google-pressure-cookers-backpacks-visit-feds-140900667.html

The NSA tells us that their surveillance is not repressive or intrusive. OK, maybe their acts of spying are not intrusive, but the goons they send out after they read your emails and search histories certainly are. Wonder if they had a warrant?

They most likely did not have a warrant. I'd go further, but that would tend to be political.

The trick is to be on the lookout for the NEXT big attack.

Though I'm sure someone made the "copycat" argument... Thank you CSI.

Your country is crazy.

Then again, so is everyone elses.

Though this is rather special to me in that there is no way that a European would put up with this.

It would likely herald the fall of the government.

It's a bit of a headscratcher.

Why do you guys put up with these sort of practices?

I searched for coffee grinders and cafetières today..

Well, you all know what this http://www.adams-wallpapers.com/data/media/26/big-brother-is-watching-you.png.

If the American Goverment wants to read my emails and what I'm googling, go right ahead.

It's not my time being wasted.

No, but it is your taxpayer money that is being wasted on something that is highly instrusive and undoubtably should be illegal.

I know the European continent has dealt with terrorism for far longer (Jackal, Northern Ireland etc), did they have searches like this in the 70's and 80's when it was happening with more frequency?

Wow, not sure where to take this so that it doesn't end up political.

How about:

I'm sure that Big Brother watches me because (not in order)

1) I served in the military

2) I visit a military website that doesn't like the administration

3) I visitied Jester's website (recently siezed by ICE)

4) Look a bit into opposing attitudes and religions (good to know what the other side thinks)

Seems like those should be automatic triggers for someone to show up, or at least monitor. I wonder what other triggers would be out there?

I remember a few cases 2005ish where inocent travelers were being detained and assets frozen for paying travel companies with cash.

I'll just post this:

Because anything I say will probably get this thread locked.

Oh, just thought of a way to go that's not political:

How long does it take for them to relax the screening/filtering? Will they still be harassing folks that look for pressure cookers and backpacks 3 years from now? A True Believer is willing to wait the rest of his/her life.

No, it wouldn't be tolerated.

England still resists laws to make it so that everyone has to carry identification. They equate that to nazi-ism, because it's one of the laws they introduced in Europe.

In my own nation there did used to be a lot of illegal phone tapping but that was put a halt to as soon as it was leaked and the politicians realised that it would be the end of the government if they didn't act.

I guess it's because of our particular system that seems to produce less stable governments, in that I can count on one hand the number of American presidents that did not rule their full term during my lifetime, whereas in my nation its more or less completely opposite and a government that rules full term is rare.

It's because our government is made up of a coalition of the parties that got the most votes, and as such it is always a tentative alliance. If an unresolvable issue pops up there is often no choice but for the government to fall.

Not mine, I'm not american.

I'm sure most of use initially feel the same, because we have nothing to hide.
But it sets a dangerous precedent that should bother everyone who values their privacy. If they can get away with this, then what's going to stop them from trying to read our mail and listen to our phone conversations?

For me, that would be more of a problem.

What governments that people voted in themselves do to their own people is more or less their own problem and not mine.

When a foreign government infringes on the sovereign rights I hold as a citizen of my nation, well, were lucky it's not 1713 because wars did start for far less back then.

That's what confused me when I heard American coverage on the issue, it's alright apparently according to general concensus over there for the government to spy on allied nations.

What caused the most uproar that I could see was that they did it to their own people too.

In any case, those guys tend to overreact. An American does things big or not at all. It's prolly all that room they have, the mind can't help but see hugeness. During ww2 they locked up a lot of asians in their own versions of concentration camps, though it has to be said that quite notably there was a distinct lack of careless or deliberate death in them. Completely unneccesary these things, most of the people locked up were on allied side.

I guess they think better safe than sorry.

Anyone who defends this is a moron. "Oh, well go right ahead and read my emails. I've got nothing to hide." Yeah, then things like this happen, you freaking idiot. Everyone is guilty until proven innocent under this surveillance. Can't wait until I can afford to move abroad.

Edit: http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/exvmJsKLwaJGuTUPN0flEQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM4MztweW9mZj0wO3E9ODU7dz02MTQ-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/theatlanticwire/Google_Pressure_Cookers_and_Backpacks_-9456a6a0e41ba2b68be339d491bbb086

"If you're innocent, you have nothing to fear. - A phrase guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of innocents everywhere."

-Terry Pratchett

The thing you never hear about is the times they stopped something horrible from happening by doing things like this.

Who's defending it?

I don't see a point in getting worked up about something I can't change.

Oh, trust me, plenty of people I've spoken to take that point of view.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Yup. Let them get freaked out by the amount of crap that I search through. Bunch of morons. http://youtu.be/TRx4pLbfPyM?t=40s

The bastion of freedom is at it again.

I know how to stop all crime on the planet! It involves killing every single human being other than me.

The cost of the security offered by any such program is far too high

http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3005#comic

self retracted due to too politcal. By thread title, I think my post should be about search and surveilance.